Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are becoming increasingly important in home, office or business applications as well as in other applications.
Various standards such as the IEEE 802.11 a/b/c/d/e/f/g/h/n standards have been established for WLANs in order to allow wireless network operation. According to the various standards, wireless communication may be established using spread spectrum modulation, OFDM (orthogonal frequency division modulation) or other modulation types. Typically, an infrastructure wireless network includes one access point or a plurality of access points to service wireless communication to one or a plurality of client stations. An access point or an access point device is an entity that provides for client stations wireless access to distribution services. An access point can for example be integrated or implemented in a gateway such as a DSL modem, a PON termination device, a router, a computer device or a cable modem to provide for example wireless connectivity with one or multiple devices including mobile devices such as laptops and personal digital assistants or stationary devices such as personal computers or consumer electronic devices at home. An access point may also be part of a structure comprising a plurality of access points which are interconnected using a wired or wireless distribution system to provide wireless communication coverage over a wider area for example in offices or buildings.
A basic service set (BSS) is a set of stations that communicate with each other. In an infrastructure basic service set, an access point builds the central communication point such that all communication is relayed through the access point. Stations that intend to join the basic service set have to be associated with the basic service set. Typically, for example in the IEEE 802.11 standards, association requires authentication.